The NiGHTS before Christmas
by Arkhangemon
Summary: hmmm...this is my first NiGHTS fic, and being that it's the holiday season I decided to do a little adaptation of the Christmas NiGHTS game. Maybe not extremely accurate as far as gameplay goes...but oh well. It's lighthearted.


The NiGHTS before Christmas…

All characters © Sega of Japan/America/Europe. Nope, none of them are mine.

Note: I will confess, I've never played Christmas NiGHTS. I'm sorry. But I do know the basic storyline of the Saturn side game, and I thought it would be nice to write a little Christmas treat for myself J and whoever feels like reading lame fanfic. Some of the aspects of Nights - like the way he speaks Nightmaren - were taken from Cerlean Lee's adaptation of the game. I just think that was a very realistic (if you can call it "realistic") way for the world of Nightopia/nightmare to be. -arkhangemon

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Claris walked along the crowded streets of Twin Seeds, bundled up in layers of clothing to keep out the biting weather. A scarf muffled her voice as she repeated, "Excuse me, pardon me…" when she bumped into the numerous shoppers. Nobody paid any attention to her anyway, preoccupied as they were with their Christmas shopping. It wasn't long before a lady in a large fur coat with dozens of shopping bags ran right into her and threw Claris to the ground. 

"Oh!" she exclaimed and checked to see if her mom's present, a crystal snow globe, was okay. Luckily the cashier had double wrapped it in bubble wrap, so there didn't appear to be any damage. Claris looked up to see the fur-clad lady continuing down the street as if nothing had happened. As it was, the other shoppers simply parted to avoid tromping on the fallen Claris. _Why is everyone so rude today?_ she thought. _Where is that Christmas cheer everyone always sings about?_ She picked herself up and continued home before her parents realized she had left. 

As she walked she looked at the decorated Twin Seeds Tower. A pillar of red and green lights, the Tower looked like a giant Christmas tree itself. _But where's the star?_ Claris thought. _Every year they put a beautiful blinking star on the top of the tower. Did it break or something?_ She looked at the empty point for a while, then went into her house.

************************

Elliot was also out on the town. He wanted to buy his sister a special gift, the new super-duper Diamond Dolly, and saw it advertised in the paper at the local Toy Shoppe. But when he arrived, all he saw were dozens of women crowded around the front door so solidly he couldn't push through. Elliot was a lot shorter than them, though, so he crouched down and crawled through their legs until he was in the store.

_I wonder what all this is about…_ he thought. As he looked around, the bulk of the people appeared to be clutching at the centerpiece of the store; it was hard to tell what it was though, for the women had taken down the sign. 

Elliot went up to an employee and asked, "What's going on over there?"

"Don't you know?" he said, irritated, "That new Diamond Dolly toy is the hot ticket this season. Everyone wants one, and at last count we only have five left. That's what they're fighting over." He gestured to the mass of women. "We sold our entire stock of 200 in less than an hour, and Twin Seeds has more than 200 little girls."

Dumbfounded, Elliot stared at the women as they punched and kicked each other and wrestled with the Dolly boxes. " I guess this means I won't get one for my sister."

The clerk laughed. "Hey kid, I don't think you ever could. Don't you watch the news? This toy's been on backorder for months. ToyCo billed it as the latest innovation in toy technology, and the public ate it up. Sorry."

Elliot pushed his way out of the store, dejected. He kicked some snow out from under his feet and shuffled home, without a gift for his sister. _What can I do now? I should have bought that toy back when it first came out. But how was I supposed to know that people would be this mean-spirited? After all, it's Christmas._ He sighed, and headed back home. 

He looked up into the sky. That always made him feel better; it made him think of Nights and the world of dreams, where he could fly into the stars. _Nights…_thought Elliot. _I haven't been in that world for so long…_

Just then he noticed something unusual. On top of the Twin Seeds Tower, where there was usually a bright blinking star at Christmas time, there was nothing. _That's odd, nobody said anything about the star not being put up this year. I wonder why nobody has noticed?_

When he opened the door to his house he saw his mom and sister were in the living room, busily wrapping gifts. "Wha - mom! Sis! Why are you guys still wrapping presents? It's almost Christmas!"

"Well Elliot, you know how busy work has been these last few weeks, and with your father out of town, well, we just haven't had time to wrap all the presents as early as we usually do. You know, you could have helped your sister do some wrapping. Where exactly have you been? You've been gone for almost two hours!"

"Mom! I'm sorry…I had to do something…."

"Well if you're not around to help, then don't point out what's not done."

Elliot glared at his mom. His sister stopped in the middle of tying a bow, haphazard as it was, and looked at her brother. "I'm going to my room." He sniffed. _Why is she so crabby this year? It feels like Christmas isn't even here, and yet it's only two days away!_

******************************

Wow! The humans have really outdone themselves this year! exclaimed Nights as he flew around Nightopia. He always enjoyed the "Christmas" season…the dreams were always particularly colorful and cheerful, filled with toys and food and all kinds of happy atmosphere. Especially the dreams of children. Nights recalled that when he still was associated with Nightmare this was considered a dry spell, for not too many people felt frightened or scared during this period. He was circling a very large and overdone cake when he felt a familiar twinge. The Dreamers…?

He stopped in mid-flight and turned to see Elliot appear. He looked confused, although Nights could see no reason why. Elliot was familiar with the dream world. He flew up to greet him.

Elliot! What's wrong?

Elliot had seen Nights approaching but had no idea what the 'maren was saying, being that he didn't speak Nightmaren. Apparently Nights had forgotten. 

Elliot! Hey -- Heloooo? _Wait, he can't understand me! I forgot! _Nights thought. He reached out and gave the boy a big hug, and instantly melded with him.

(Elliot! Now you understand me, right?)

("Right. Forgot that I don't speak Nightmaren, didn't you?")

(Uh, yeah. Sorry. But what's wrong? You don't look like yourself.)

("Yeah. You know this is Christmastime, when everything is supposed to be all bright and warm, everybody is in good spirits.")

(Yes. Is it any different from last year?)

("I feel like it is. I mean, the people at the stores are all angry and mean, and my mom seems to be really irritated about everything.")

Nights was flying about the snowy sky during their inflight conversation, feeling the prickly drops of snowflakes hitting his hands. He usually would be joyous, but the flood of unhappy feelings coming from Elliot depressed his mood. (So what do you think is wrong?)

A wave of amusement flowed through to Nights. ("Actually, I was thinking it might be a lack of sleep.")

(Hmmmm…) Nights conveyed. (You know, you might be on the right track!)

("Really?")

(Well yeah! I mean, if humans don't get enough sleep they tend to be grumpy, right? So if all these people are in such a fuss that even Christmas can't cheer them up, they must have lost something important.)

("Okay. So do you think it's Nightmare's fault?")

(That's very likely. There are always nightmares, even in the best of times. I just don't know who could be so powerful that they're depressing such a large chunk of humanity…)

As the human/maren was skimming a frozen lake, Nights' large eyes caught sight of something pink in the distance. When he got closer, the figure of Claris emerged.

"Claris!" Nights called. The pink-haired girl turned around and smiled.

"Nights! There you are, I was looking for you."

"Well, do you want Nights or Elliot? Cause you have a choice." Nights smiled, and with a thought disconnected from Elliot. He then grasped Claris' hand, and fused with her.

(So…you're here too? Busy night.)

("I can't believe Elliot and I had the same dream…")

(Wouldn't be the first time.) Nights remarked. (But there's usually a reason for a shared dream, and it's not often good. Let me guess -- there's a feeling of emptiness in the real world?)

("Why, yes! How did you know?")

(That's just what Elliot was saying.)

"Hey Nights, nice outfit." Elliot interrupted, unknowingly of course. Nights looked down at himself, and instead of the usual purple and violet-blue he was wearing a red and white getup. 

"Interesting." He smiled broadly. "I guess all the festivities even influenced my appearance. Not that I'm complaining."

("It looks nice. I noticed when you came up, but I didn't say anything. Anyways, yeah…I feel like the whole city is icy. There's no feeling to this Christmas at all.")

(I'm thinking it's being caused by a particularly powerful Nightmaren influence.) Nights said. He noticed that Elliot was staring dumbly at some Nightopians throwing snowballs. (Maybe we should talk out loud so we can include Elliot.)

(Sure.)

"Anyways, as I was saying, I think there's a Nightmaren to blame for all the problems in the real world."

"Is that Nights or Claris?" Elliot asked.

"Nights. Hmmmm….perhaps it's Gulpo? Or maybe Clawz? Nah…they're not powerful enough to do anything like this."

"It couldn't be…Reala…could it?" Claris ventured.

"No no, not his style. Even he enjoys Christmas just a *little* -- but he would never admit it."

"Did Elliot mention the star?"

"You mean you noticed it, too?" Elliot looked surprised. 

"What star? Somebody tell me!" Claris mentally showed him a picture of Twin Seeds Tower. 

"You see that tower? Well, when it's all decorated there's supposed to be a bright twinkling star on the very top, so they look like giant Christmas trees. But this year, there's no star! And nobody seems to care, either."

"Now *this* is interesting…" Nights said. "There is a star exactly like that in the sky here. It's a little bright out still, but if we look we should be able to see it…" Both of them scanned the sky, but nowhere was there any star like the one atop the towers. "But how could it not be there? Nobody's been in this area except me…"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. "

"Well nobody could steal a *star* anyway…" Claris said.

"Not exactly. This is a dream, after all. Any Nightmaren could come in and grab a portion of the dream and it wouldn't be any trouble at all. But who? And why?"

"Maybe that's the Christmas spirit. The spark that lights up the holiday season." Claris said. Nights and Elliot were silent.

"That's really good." said Elliot.

"…"

"So Nights, is that right?"

"I think you've got it! Yeah! It wasn't _who _was influencing people, but _what. _Some tricky 'maren has discovered that fact and come here and taken it right out from under me! How…but who would even know that about the star in the first place?"

******************************************************************88

Reala paced the edge of Nightmare. He hovered aboveground, kicking a little at some peppermint that had infiltrated the stubborn cheerless atmosphere of his realm. Stupid Christmas….stupid humans….GILLWING! He bellowed. GIIILWIIING! GET YOUR DRAGON TAIL OVER HERE!

The dragon-fish meandered over. It's huge mouth alone overshadowed Reala, but despite the difference in size the larger maren deferred to the smaller. He could not talk, but that was only to be expected of a lower-intelligence creature. You got the star, didn't you? 

The fish flopped his tail over to show Reala the star that was stuck on the very end of it. Okay, good. But now you have something else to worry about. Nights has *finally* realized that the star is missing. Did you know that? And he has those infernal dreamers with him as well. Do you know what that means? He glared at the fish, which sat there stupidly. It means that his power is increased three times over! And for you, that is trouble. So I'm giving you a little advance warning. Are you understanding me?

The fish nodded his great head slowly.

Good. So…you're gonna go back there and make sure that Nights doesn't get his little fleshy hands on the Holiday Star, right?

The fish roared and flew off into Spring Valley. Reala crossed his arms, sure that the idiot maren would fail and die miserably. But at least he tried to make it work, right?

***************************************

"So how am I going to keep up with you, Nights?" asked Elliot. "After all, you're fused with Claris right now. I can't run nearly as fast as you can fly."

"That is a problem…" Nights backed up, sizing up Elliot. "Hmmm…how much do you weigh, Elliot?"

"Well I don't know, maybe around a hun--"

"No! How much would you *like* to weigh? It's your dream." Nights spread his hands. "And imagine an amount that I could carry." He swooped down and grabbed Elliot by his hands.

"Aaah! My arms are gonna get pulled out!"

"Not if you don't think about it. Even if it feels that way, it won't happen. Don't worry."

("Nights…we're flying a lot slower now.")

(I know, Claris. But it's necessary. This is a combined dream, and he could really help, depending on who we run into.)

("Okay.")

"So where are we headed? Do you even know where to look?" Elliot called, hoping his voice wasn't completely lost in the wind. 

"Well right now we're in Spring Valley, even though it looks quite a bit different around this time of year. So if I remember right, a certain 'maren named Gillwing had a little hidey-hole around here somewhere."

"Yeah, I remember!" said Nights, although Elliot knew it was Claris' input.

"Okay. I don't know this dream, so I don't even know what we're up against."

"Big dragon-fish. Very bad breath. Not very cheerful." Nights smiled down at the dangling boy. "No problem. He's probably the reason for all your problems, and with the two of you to boost my strength, taking this guy out won't take long."

*************************************

Nights flew low and set Elliot down on the snow-laden grass at the top of a hill. "This should be far enough away so that you don't attract any attention, but close enough so you can help out."

"But what can I do? I mean, you really only need one dreamer…"

Nights smiled. "Yeah, but two heads are always better than one, and we have three here!" It was Claris' words. "Maybe if we're stuck then you can give us some ideas."

"And if somehow Gillwing manages to break Claris and I apart, then I can quick meld with you and continue the fight. After all, I'm much more powerful when melded with one of you guys."

"I never did understand that." Elliot said.

"Well, the only explanation I can think of is that you guys' red Ideya give me a boost of confidence or something that augments my natural strength." Nights started to wander off in thought.

"So where is Gillwing's lair from here?" Claris asked.

"Oh…yeah. So, I think from this hill it's right down behind those foothills. Where the mist is."

Elliot looked hard. "When were you planning to --"

A powerful gust of wind blew past in the air above the group. Nights ducked, then turned to see Gillwing roaring to his lair. Apparently in his rush the dragon-fish didn't see them. "Stupid fish."

"What was that?" Elliot had crouched down as well. 

"That was Gillwing." Nights smiled slightly. "I guess we shoulda gone over there sooner, if he wasn't even in his lair defending the Star." Again, it was Claris talking.

"Well he'd probably just try to steal it back again, so we might as well get rid of him for good…or at least until Christmas is over." Nights said. He hovered over to Elliot and picked him up. "I'll probably leave you at the mouth of the cave, just so there isn't any danger to you while we're fighting. You'll still be close enough to meld with if something happens, but not *too* close."

"Okay. But remember, I've never fought this thing before, so I don't know how much help I would be in any case."

"Don't worry about that Elliot. Nights has fought with him." Claris said. 

"Okay. We're going in." Nights looked at the blue-haired boy and smirked.

"What?"

"Heh…it looks like the other dreamers are influencing you as well." He gestured to Elliot's clothing. 

He looked down and was shocked to discover himself dressed up in some psuedo-Santa outfit. "What?…"

"Hey, it's probably Christmas Eve already. I bet every kid is dreaming about Christmas." Claris said. Nights looked toward the cave. "Yeah, I guess we should get moving. Only 24 hours left to save the Christmas spirit." Nights dove into the lair.

For a while it was dark, but suddenly the cave opened up into an explosion of neon lights. Purple was everywhere and there was a noticeable amount of extra red and green, but the lair of Gillwing looked a lot like it always had. (I guess Gillwing has been doing some redecorating, eh?) Nights said. 

(Or humans have been doing it for him.) Claris replied. (I don't see him…)

(You're right. I wonder where --)

The giant fish exploded above Nights' head, roaring. The end of his tail whipped back and forth, smacking him across the chest with the same star they had come to take back. Nights slammed into some glowing crystals. He shook his head and stared at the circling maren. "Hey, nice look Gillwing. Trying something new, are we?" The fish thrashed around and charged toward him, mouth open.

"I was only giving you a compliment." Nights burst straight up, avoiding Gillwing's mouth as he ate the crystal Nights had been leaning against. He came down on the fish's head with a drill dash, severing it's red and white head.

An angry tail slashed around for a second, then shuddered as a new head, just as festive as the last, grew back in it's place. "Oh yeah…*that* trick…" Nights circled around to the back of Gillwing's tail. He seized the star that was on the end of the tail and pulled. The star refused to come off. 

(What are you gonna do if you can't take it off him?) Claris asked.

(I'm just going to have to cut him down to size, I guess. My first idea was easier, but I guess we'll just have to deal with --) The star suddenly beat against Nights and struck him straight in his red chest crystal. Claris yelped as she was released from Nights' body, falling.

Claris! Nights yelled. He ducked Gillwing's tail and dove down to catch her before she could hit the snow. In this lucid of a dream she might actually receive some physical damage in the waking world if she hit the ground. As soon as he caught her, she looked up at him for a second before disappearing. Great, she must have awakened… 

He looked up at Gillwing, who appeared to be still focused on where Nights had been a moment ago. Nights took off out of the cave.

Elliot was startled by the hand on his shoulder. As he turned he saw the friendly face of Nights, and in moments they were melded. (What happened?)

(Claris woke up. I took a pretty nasty stab to the chest.)

(Hope that doesn't happen again, or else you'll be on your own.) They flew back into the cave. 

(Now what are we up against? I've never seen this Gillwing thing, except for when he flew over us back there.)

(Don't worry. He might be all decked out in Christmas colors, but otherwise he's the same maren I've dealt with before. He's keeping the star on his tail, and it's stuck on pretty good, but if I cut his tail down it'll make him defenseless.)

Nights felt a bit of apprehension from Elliot as they entered the lair. Even more came from him when Nights' eyes fell on Gillwing. (Nights…he's huge…)

(Yeah, but remember Wizeman? Come on, this guy's nothing.) Nights gave him some reassurance before drill dashing into Gillwing's tail. A chunk of the stripes exploded and the dragon fish screamed. (See?)

He repeated this, occasionally paralooping to destroy more segments. It didn't take too long before Gillwing was down to a solitary head, nashing his teeth as it fell to the ground. The only segment remaining was the tail end, with the star attached. Nights flew over to pick it up, and the tail disintegrated. The star glowed brightly. (Let's get this back where it belongs.)

***********************************************************************

When Nights and Elliot arrived back at the place they had started Claris had reappeared there. "You guys did it!" She said, looking at the star. "Yeah, that's the same star that's always on Twin Seeds Tower." 

Nights looked up into the sky. "Okay, I guess it's time to put this back up. Elliot, I'm gonna do this on my own." He separated from Elliot, then shot off into space. Claris and Elliot stared up until Nights disappeared from view. For a while, nothing happened. Then a sudden burst of light exploded in the Nightopian atmosphere, and a large sparkling star was present. The two kids smiled. 

So now what? Nights said, standing behind them. They turned and looked at the maren, who was grinning. He knew they didn't have a clue what he was saying, but still he talked. Claris has a nice new outfit too. He gestured to Claris, who looked down and saw she was now wearing a red and white-trimmed dress. 

"Hey, I think I hear something…" Elliot said.

"Yeah. I do too.." added Claris.

They looked around to see the Nightopians, all in little red and white outfits, hovering around them, singing pleasant little holiday songs. "I guess Christmas is almost here." said Claris. She disappeared quickly.

"Hey -- what happened?" Elliot said, but then he disappeared as well.

Nights remained, petting one of the Nightopians that had drifted over. Heh, I guess it's morning. I hope the humans are in better spirits now. He looked in the direction of Nightmare, his smile fading somewhat. Now I wonder what Reala is thinking?

****************************************************************************

Reala looked out the window, feeling the warm breeze of Christmas float through the room. Christmas Eve. The spirit of Christmas was always uncomfortable to him, even though Nights always had seemed to enjoy it. I never did understand that maren. He growled. A tap on his shoulder caused him to spin angrily. 

A mepian - one of those crossbred insults to nightmaren - was hovering in front of him. It appeared to have been a hollow at one time, but now was just a mishmash of corrupted maren and pian parts. It held a small piece of cake in it's feet with a note:

_To the grinch. Merry Christmas!_

__

Reala's eyes widened in surprise. Of course Nights had sent it. He snatched the cake away and smacked the mepian out the window, resuming his scowling survey of the Christmas atmosphere. 

He ate the cake.

*****************************************************************************

Elliot pulled on his socks, grabbed a jacket and ran downstairs. "Mom! I'll be back later!" he called before slamming the door. He still needed to get his sister a Christmas present.

Claris wrapped a scarf around her neck and adjusted her headband. "Claris! Come on dear, the stores don't stay open as late on Christmas Eve!" She ran into the other room, grabbed her purse and got into the car.

At Twin Seeds Towne Center Mall, Claris window-shopped. Her mom was at the big department store buying a new outfit for Christmas, leaving Claris to look around the rest of the open-air mall. She was admiring some nice earrings when somebody crashed into her, causing the two of them to collapse on the ice. When she looked up to see who it was, Elliot was brushing back the hair from his face. "Oh!"

Elliot smiled uncomfortably, rubbing his elbow. "I'm sorry, heh…stupid ice."

"Are you two kids okay?" A lady's voice said. Elliot and Claris looked around to see that quite a few adults had gathered around them. The jewelry store owner had even come out.

"We're fine." Claris said, getting up. The manager laughed, as did some of the other people. 

"If those earrings are that distracting I can give you a good deal." The manager said. "Special Christmas discount?" Claris and Elliot looked at each other, smiling. _Christmas Spirit…_ they both thought.

That night, Twin Seeds Tower was in full Christmas regalia. Claris looked at it from her window, and saw the Christmas Star suddenly materialize in it's rightful place. Elliot watched the same phenomenon from the airport window as his dad's plane was coming in, and they smiled.

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Heehee…Xmas fuzzies….anyways, I don't know how accurate this story was a far as the game or gameplay goes, but I had fun writing it. There's so much good NiGHTS fics on here…it's kinda intimidating J 


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